PIRATE BOOKS

I started off writing non-fiction books.  They were mostly about pirates because I was originally born on the island of Malta, which used to be a very famous pirate hideout.  I even wrote a short novel based on the sister island of Gozo, where I used to holiday every summer.

All my pirate books except THE MYSTERY OF THE COCOS GOLD are now out of print.  You can still get hold of second hand copies, though, or borrow them from the library.  Here's a list of my favourite ones:

THE MYSTERY OF THE COCOS GOLD

Oxford University Press

This is the true story that partly inspired Robert Louis Stevnson to write Treasure Island.  Cocos Island, which is 500 km off the Costa Rica in South America, was the haunt of many 18th century pirates.

In 1821 a revolution was breaking out in Costa Rica.  The people there were rising against their Spanish masters.  Some priests hired a Mr. Thompson, the captain of the Mary Dear, to carry the treasures from Lima Cathedral back to Spain.  But the crew of the Mary Dear revolted, threw the priests overboard and made off with the treasure.  They buried it on the remote island of Cocos, hoping to return for it when all the fuss had died down.  All the crew except two - the captain and the first mate - were caught and hanged before they could go back to Cocos.  The remaining pirates tried to retrieve the gold, but luck was not on their side...

THE PIRATES OF PUDDING BEACH

Macmillan/Pan Books

Mark and Lottie holiday on the island of Gozo every summer.  They stay wih their Maltese friend, Salvu, whose father runs a guest house on the island.   When the three find an ancient lamp in a secret cave, they light it and find themselves back in the times of the pirates. They want to get back home, but their efforts are hampered by the infamous Dragut, the bloodthirthiest pirate in the world

This was my first attempt at fiction, and I really enjoyed writing it although I haven't had the chance to write something as long since [though I am working on that].  I mixed fact with fiction, weaving my own story around some chracters I made up and some thay were real.

The book was originally published in 1988 by Macmillan and the paperback followed from Pan a year later.  Copies of the book in hardback are quite rare, so if you get hold of one, hang on to it.

PIRATES AND TREASURE

Wayland

Pirates And Treasure was my first book in a series called Quest, for which I wrote for books in all.  It was a very difficult brief.  I wanted to include pirates from all around the world, not just buccaneers from the Caribbean. I had to do a lot of research to get enough material about corsaris [pirates in the Mediterranean], Chinese sea-robbers and bogey men [they were pirates too].

Although the book is out of print, it is still considered a bench mark and new publications tend to get measured against it.  It's still very popular in libraries, so you might have a copy in your school.

BURIED TREASURE

Belitha Books

This book was originally going to be just about pirate gold but, while doing the research, I came across so many interesting stories about buried loot that I decided to expand the brief.

It ended up being about all kinds of treasure, including golden masks from the ancient world,  works of art found in pyramids, even golden nuggets in haunted mines.  There's lots of info about pirate hoards too, with a long list of facts at the end.